energy
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Energy prices haven’t budged in 50 years — but oil is crazy expensive
Americans pay about the same as they did in 1960 for most forms of energy, says this infographic produced by the home energy audit folks at WellHome. Except for oil, which is now on average even more crazy-expensive than it was during the oil crisis of the 1970's, when people were ready to bash each […]
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Why are all the ‘most efficient states’ blue states?
This year's list of the top 10 most energy-efficient states looks an awful lot like the map of red and blue states from the 2008 election. (Data were compiled by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy.) We're not sure why. Got an opinion? Share it in the comments.
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New interactive report shows how Americans got trapped in their gas-guzzlers
The New America Foundation has a new, sharp report out on what they call "the energy trap." With prices for gas climbing, many Americans want other, better options for getting around, but they have little choice but to keep pouring money into the gas stations. Just check out the map in the first chapter to watch the country go from light pink (less than $300 spent on gas per month per household) to dark red (greater than $400 spent) in one year.
To understand America's abusive relationship with gasoline and cars, NAF interviewed "scores of people" and conducted a sociological survey about gas prices. -
A positive energy vision for the future, from Amory Lovins
For inspiration on the energy front, RMI's new project, Reinventing Fire, offers an ambitiously positive plan for energy independence.
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Is the next Steve Jobs in Geneva, Beijing, or Abu Dhabi?
Reading tributes to the fallen tech hero, Steve Jobs, from around the globe, two things are clear to me — his successor is likely to be in the clean energy sector and working somewhere other than the U.S. I’m not saying Americans have lost their inventive mojo, just that I have met 50 innovative, inspirational […]
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Does energy storage compensate for water-thirsty concentrating solar thermal power?
This post originally appeared on Energy Self-Reliant States, a resource of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance’s New Rules Project. Concentrating solar thermal power has promised big additions to renewable energy production with the additional benefit of energy storage. But with significant water consumption in desert locations, is the energy storage benefit of concentrating solar enough […]
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Overcoming the roadblocks to democratizing the electricity system – part 5 of 5
A serialized version of ILSR‘s new report, Democratizing the Electricity System, Part 4 of 5. Click for Part 1 or Part 2 or Part 3 or Part 4. Overcoming the Roadblocks to Democratizing the Electricity System The electricity grid system has become host to a distributed generation phenomenon that has developed in a largely hostile […]
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Ads that Fight Back Against Coal
The coal industry is learning to not take the Sierra Club lightly – and we’re hoping our local, state and national officials are learning the same lesson. In one example – just today we released a Spanish-language television ad rejecting President Obama’s decision to delay long overdue, life-saving protections from smog, an acidic air pollutant […]
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Tar Sands Protest is like the War on Drugs
What I am about to say may be considered blasphemy: I think the tar sands protests are misguided and will not (should not) achieve their stated goal. Before you grab your sustainably harvested bamboo pitchforks, I should say that I want the protests and arrests to continue, because there could be a much greater win, […]